The American journal of emergency medicine
-
Emergent cricothyroidotomy remains an uncommon, but life-saving, core procedural training requirement for emergency medicine (EM) physician training. We hypothesized that although most cricothyroidotomies for trauma occur in the emergency department (ED), they are usually performed by surgeons. ⋯ (1) Prehospital cricothyroidotomy results in serious complications. (2) Despite the ubiquitous presence of EM physicians in the ED, all cricothyroidotomies were performed by a surgeon, which may present opportunities for training improvement.
-
Clinical Trial
A before- and after-intervention trial for reducing unexpected events during the intrahospital transport of emergency patients.
This study was aimed to explore the effect of intervention in safe intrahospital transport on the incidence of unexpected events (UEs) occurring during the transport of emergency patients. ⋯ A significant reduction in the rate of total and serious UEs during intrahospital transport from the ED was found through using transport checklists.
-
We describe the case of a 75-year-old man affected by a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic renal failure admitted to our emergency department for dyspnea and interscapular stabbing pain. Chest radiography showed diffuse parenchymal consolidation in the lower right lung with bronchiectasis, but the treatment for infection disease did not improve the clinical conditions of the patient. ⋯ Because the presence of chronic renal failure limited the execution of a helical computed tomographic pulmonary angiography, a pulmonary scintigraphy was performed confirming the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Our case suggested that chest ultrasonography can be a valuable tool for early detection of pulmonary embolism and to establish immediately an appropriate therapy.
-
This study was undertaken to validate the diagnostic values of 9 different physical tests in emergency department patients with primary anterior shoulder dislocation (PASD) to select the best screening test for full-thickness rotator cuff tear (FTRCT) after PASD. ⋯ The prevalence of FTRCT after PASD is 37% (95% CI, 24%-52%). Jobe test has the highest sensitivity (89% CI, 64%-98%) among the tests.
-
For joint reductions, adequate sedation is often required. Propofol has increasingly been used for sedation in the emergency department (ED) in recent years. The benefits of propofol are the rapid onset of action and the short recovery time. However, whether these characteristics can shorten the duration of ED stay is not been proved. ⋯ Propofol is a safe sedative with few complications and higher successful rates when applied in the joint reductions. It can also shorten the duration of ED stay.